Phillies' pieman Perez is more than a clown ** The utility infielder has contributed more than his humor to the team.

Mandy Housenick Of The Morning CallTHE MORNING CALL

While so many Phillies quietly sat at their lockers before a game against Montreal late last month, Tomas Perez strolled around, his head turning every which way. He was itching to do something mischievous.

A few seconds later, Placido Polanco, lounging in a red chair in the center of the clubhouse, was nearly bowled over. It was Perez with a bear hug.

After Polanco realized who it was, the shocked look on his face turned to a big smile. Laughter soon followed, and the two sat side-by-side, chatting in Spanish.

"That's my personality, all the time," Perez said.

Fans see his jokester persona most often after games. That's when Perez dishes out his famous shaving cream pies. But they're not for just any Phillie, at any time.

Although he has no exact criteria, Perez usually saves that honor for the teammate who gets the game-winning hit or comes up with a game-saving defensive play or pitch.

The key is he almost always smooshes that not-so-tasty congratulations into his teammate's face during a post-game television interview.

"It's like his tradition," Philllies starting pitcher Randy Wolf said. "If you have a good game, it's one of the rewards. But it burns and doesn't taste too good. It would be better if it were whipped cream."

Perez, who pied a member of the grounds crew just as the team started stretching recently, keeps track of whom he attacks. Just last week he crossed Bobby Abreu off his list. Abreu made the hit-list last Thursday night because he hit a walk-off home run in the ninth inning to give the Phillies a 6-5 win over the Mets.

"It's something you can't hide from," Abreu said. "He got me good."

John Kruk, who played for the Phillies from 1989-94 and is now on ESPN, was a member of a whacky, scrappy 1993 team that won the pennant. He, too, experienced a few shaving cream pies, although they weren't administered by one specific player then or with quite the frequency.

He would rather have been on the receiving end of a Perez pie than the ones he got from former closer Mitch Williams, reliever Larry Anderson and utilityman Mariano Duncan.

"We had a guy actually order those aluminum pie tins. They hurt," Kruk recalled. "Tomas is nicer. He uses a towel."

Perez still needs to get manager Larry Bowa, third base coach John Vukovich and first baseman Jim Thome. He said their time is coming.

"If we make it , I'll do it," Perez said. "They won't get mad. It's part of my job."

"[Bowa] loves him, so I think he'll take it well," Wolf said. "I'd like to see it."

One thing Perez would like to see more of is the field. But as the Phillies utilityman, he never knows where or when he's going to play.

He goes through stretches when he starts a string of games because of an injury to an infielder. Other times, he just pinch hits late in the game. And some games he doesn't play at all.

Perez, though, doesn't let himself get down about his limited playing time.

"I consider myself lucky. You have to enjoy this game because you don't know when you'll be retired or when something might happen to you. You have to enjoy every day, every at-bat."

Some at-bats are a little more memorable than others.

During a one-week span earlier this month, Perez, 30, produced two game-winning hits. On Saturday, July 3, Perez's pinch-hit single in the bottom of the eighth sent the Phillies to a 7-6 win over Baltimore. Then last Friday night, he came through with another RBI pinch-hit single. This time it came in the bottom of the 10th and propelled the Phils to a 7-6 victory over Atlanta.

That was the perfect time for revenge. A group of Phillies attacked Perez with several pies and a bucket of ice after his extra-inning heroics.

Anderson, who had two stints with the Phillies totaling six years and is now a Phillies commentator, knows how tough it can be to wait for your time to come. He spent 91/2 years in the minor leagues.

"That helped me understand the importance of enjoying what you do when you get here," Anderson said. "I think he's making the most of his opportunities and he's enjoying every minute of it."

His teammates certainly appreciate and get a kick out of him.

"He keeps everybody up," said Ricky Ledee, a backup outfielder. "He goes out and has fun. When you're having a tough time, he comes by and makes you laugh."

"He's all about the team, whether he plays or not," Abreu said. "It's very important to have someone on the team, that no matter what, is there for you."

Bowa, known for his seriousness and sometimes uptight personality, is grateful to have Perez in his dugout, for his athleticism and upbeat attitude.

"He brings energy and enthusiasm to the park every day," Bowa said. "He's a very good utility player that you're never afraid to play anywhere. And he gives you quality at-bats."

Perez, though, didn't always have this positive outlook. When he was in the Blue Jays organization from 1994-99, he had a reputation for being a little flashy and hot-headed.

"He overreacted to things," said Jimmy Hoff, who was Toronto's farm director and the Syracuse SkyChiefs (Triple-A) infield instructor then.

Hoff attributed that to how rushed through the system Perez was. In 1994, he was playing Single-A ball. Then he was a Rule 5 draft pick and spent the entire 1995 season playing with the Blue Jays.

Over the next four seasons, Perez went back and forth between Triple-A and the big leagues.

"He had to learn how to replay the game in Triple-A and he put a lot of pressure on himself," Hoff said.

Bowa hasn't seen the old Perez, who's hoping to play all nine positions in a nine-inning game, since he joined the Phillies.

"He was a young kid and thought he should be playing every day and didn't think he got an opportunity," Bowa said. "I still think he wants to be playing every day, but he's accepted his role and is dealing with it.

"It's a tough job to do what he does. You never know when you're going to play. He takes ground balls at every position because you don't know if you're going to play third, second or short or fill in for Thome one day at first. But he's always prepared."

Hoff said Perez, who got his first major league hit (a game-winning single in the bottom of the 10th) in 1995 off current teammate Roberto Hernandez, is just the guy to get defensive tips from.

"He was one of the finest Triple-A infielders I was ever around," said Hoff, who's now Tampa Bay's minor league coordinator. "One year we were talking about who our MVP was going to be. One coach said it should be Patrick Lennon, who hit all kinds of home runs and someone else said it should be one of our starting pitchers, who won 18 games. I went to the pitching coach and he said it should be Tomas. He said he made the pitchers as good as they were because he was so good [defensively]."

Perez, a Venezuela native, has lived in the U.S. for 11 years, and plans to stay here with his wife, Andrea, and his daughter, 21-month-old Paola, after he retires.

"I want her to go to high school and college here," Perez said.

But he hasn't forgotten where he came from.

"I have my parents and sister here from Venezuela for a month," Perez said. "You have to miss home, but I have to take care of my job first."